Pigeon Ambition: To Love and Be Loved

July 1, 2026 by Cynthia Bardouka-Large

Christiana Reed making magic happen! Photo by Dion Campbell

Palomacy’s founder and retired Director, Elizabeth Young, pulled out all the stops and brought so many people together for a celebration of 19 years of pigeon diplomacy! Old friends, new friends, art, music, birds, and love filled the room as we honored and celebrated pigeons and doves and those who care for them. And between the party and online auction and a $4k match pledge from a super-donor, we raised $12,224 to help the birds!

photo by Dina Kharagg

A pigeon’s ambition is…to love and be loved. At the end of the day, isn’t that the heart of it?

LOTS of beautiful pictures when you scroll down but first some THANK YOUs!

Everything that went into Pigeon Ambition was donated or created by willing, talented hands. All of it! The visionary Christiana Reed transformed the community room at the Sports Basement in Berkeley, Susan Joyce (founder of Little Green Pigeon and the National Pigeon Advocacy Association live streamed her presentation: “Change and Hope — My Vision of a Better World for Pigeons”, Madalina Kelner designed the iconic party graphics, Jazelle Lieske created gorgeous hand-made signs to guide partygoers, Dion Campbell and Dina Kharag  and Ash Z took beautiful photos. Aileen Patterson organized a delicious vegan buffet and worked the bar, Elizabeth supplemented that with emergency vegan pizza when the turnout surpassed our highest hopes, Legacy Cellar donated a fine assortment of wine, Oakland United Beerworks donated their best brews, Josette and Luis Maury took care of the non-alcoholic beverages, Heather Hohlowski made sure that people far and wide knew about the party (and brought amazing vegan desserts!), Sarah Lemarie of Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue ran the livestream and overcame so many tech challenges for us, Neetra Chakraborty hosted the Facebook Live, Larry Noble Sr  bought the magic that only live music can. Our raffle and fundraising auction were full of handcrafted beautiful items, original works of art, books, and unique experiences, and the auction was entirely organized by Heather Hamilton — from Morocco! With a new baby!!! (Scroll to the bottom for the complete list of these heroes.) Many others worked behind the scenes and on the day, setting up, acting as docents with our adoptable birds, contributing joy and positivity and financial support, and finally helping to wind down and clean up the space. Our parties are DIY fun events, and we treasure this time together as a community.

Check out the photo slide show, with pictures from Dion Campbell, Dina Kharag, Ash Z, Jenna Close, Cynthia Bardouka-Large, and Elizabeth Young

Previous Image
Next Image

info heading

info content

Our Talented and Heroic Auction and Raffle Donors! Auction wrangled by Heather Hamilton all the way from Morocco! 

Heather Hamilton with helper Amira

Treasures were donated by Be Nice To Pigeons, Flea Circus Designs, BeanMilk, Bev’s Bird Boutique, Blair Cacoyannis (reiki healer), Rosemary Mosco (author), the Oakland Ballers, the Oakland Zoo, Goatlandia, Velvet & Sweet Pea’s Purrfumery, Rose Lalla Jensen, Aileen Patterson, Shae Irving (artist), Christiana Reed, Courtney Miller, Anna Czulewicz, Dirty City Pigeon (artist), Friendens Pets, Flor Blum, Jaclyn Alderete (artist), Janice Lipsky (author), J Lin, Lauren C Johnson (author), Marie Cimaglia, Melne Murphy, Penny Noel, Pet Food Express, Realm Home, Sandra Nickel (author), Slevit Studios (artist), Kaur Fine Art Portraits. We are deeply grateful to you for helping us raise money for the vulnerable, sweet, sassy birds that we all love.

 

Share